Storage-bin.



P. N wm J MO AM APPLIUATION FILED 1320.22. 1904.

3 MEETS-SHEET 1.

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I IV/Maya No. 802,263. PATENTED OCT. 1'7, 1905.

A. E BROWN.

STORAGE BIN.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.22, 1904.

3 SHEETS-SHBET 2.

l I l 11v VENTO.

W] T NESSES No. 802,263. PATENTED OCT. 17, 1905.. A. E. BROWN.

STORAGE BIN.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 22. 1904.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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ALEXANDER F. BROWN, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE BROWN HOISTING MACHINERY COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

S PANT FFICE.

STORAGE-"BIN.

Patented Oct. 1'7, 1905.

No. 802,263. Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 22, 1904. Scrinl llov 238,009.

1071/07 I l wern: while preserving all the advantages of pre 55 Be it known that I, ALEXANDER E. BROWN, vaili'ng structures so far as the character of a citizen of the United States, residing at their cross-sections is concerned makes use Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and of further structural principles and details 5 State of Ohio, have invented a new and usewhereby intermediate cross-braces r struts ful Improvement in Storage-Bins, as to which of every description except those required at 60 I hereby declare the following to be a full, the ends to resist the longitudinal thrust of clear, and exact description, reference being the load may be dispensed with, a thorough had to the drawings accompanying and which insulation of the surfaces obtained, and all at IO are to be regarded as a part of this specificagreatly-reduced costs. I realize this object tion. in the form of construction I shall now pro- 6 Said invention relates to the special class of ceed to more fully describe, referring to the receptacles for coal, ore, and other gross 1naseveral drawings wherein similar parts are terial in bulk that utilize in their construcdesignated by the same letters in each case.

5 tion the tensile strength of the material form- Figure 1 is a side elevation of aportion of ing their sides and bottom to resist the strains an eXteriorly-insulated storage-bin with a 7: set up by the load. Bins of this kind have portion of such insulation removed. Fig. 2 heretofore been made up of a series of recis a down plan view of such bin. Fig. 3 is a tangular plates riveted together to opposite vertical sectional View of Fig. 1 through the horizontal girders that are sustained by verline :0 w in the direction of the arrows. Fig.

tical columns beneath the same, the sev- 4% is an enlarged transverse sectional view in 5 eral plates in the series being so bent as in the direction of the arrows through the line the majority of cases to substantiallydescribe 1/ 3 of Fig. l of a portion of a bin made of parabolic or catenary sections between said ferro-inclave sheets carrying a cement coat- 5 girders and being connected laterally one to ing on both sides, and Fig. 5 is an enlarged the other by either lap or butt joints. This longitudinal sectional view in the direction of form of structure involves the use of heavy the arrows of a like portion through thelincs and continuous sheets of steel or like material .2' of Fig. 1. for the bin proper in order to get the requisite My said suspension-bin, as shown, has as 3 rivet values against shearing along the line of its chief component members the body porsuspension and also a regular system of crosstion A and the several pairs or sets of inbracing, so as to resist the tendency of the wardly-inclined columns or posts BB, that supportingcolumns to approach each other support the same. The portion A is comunder the force of the load and the bin to posed of two opposite and obliquely-related 35 collapse. By reason of the weight and charhorizontal girders C C, made up of the webs acter of the material thus required for bins of or plates 0 c, surmounted at the tops on each the prevailing type referred to not only is the side by the Z-bars Z Z and further stiffened cost of their construction enhanced to an unby the channel-beams D I that extend along desirable degree, but it becomes impossible the outer surface of the same near their lower 4 to adequately protect their interior surfaces edges. To the lower edges of said webs at against the corrosive actions ascribable to the suitable intervals are riveted or otherwise 5 various substances with which they are to be attached the respective ends of a series of mein contact. As is well known, for instance, tallic ribs or straps S S of suificient strength the reactions of coal or ore and the moisture to sustain the weight to be applied thereto, as

45 to which they are inevitably exposed when in will hereinafter appear and having a downbunkers or storage-bins attacks steel to a ward curve between the said girders that is I00 destructive degree, and for this reason and as the same substantially as that which said the only mode of meeting the conditions bins straps or bands would assume when thus susof sheet-steel of the kind in question have pended if they were at the same time semi or 5 heretofore been painted inside, a measure, partly flexible, inextensible, and free to move however, which has proven both imperfect between their ends. .It is of course needless I05 and short-lived. to say that by reason of the element of rigid- It is the object of my present invention to ity that is necessarily present in greater or provide a storage-bin of the above type which less degree in metallic straps the curve thus indicated will in fact correspond more nearly to a parabola than a catenary and should be that best suited to resist the strains of a super imposed laterally-confined load of loosely or freely flowing granular matter. In practice it is found that if the strap constructions are laid out as parabolas a load applied to the resultant bin, whether such load be surcharged, level, or concave, will vary the curve-section to but a most insubstantial degree. Nevertheless, since the extent of this variation from a parabola in a given case will depend upon the character of the material to be loaded in and drawn from the bin, the amount thereof may be calculated in the first instance according to such material near enough for all practical purposes and designs be made to conform thereto. Upon and to said ribs or straps S are contiguously laid and riveted in their places the sheet-plates of whatever character used. These latter are made to conform to the contour of said ribs or straps at their respective points of support and together make up and complete the bottom and sides of the bin-body A. hile the use of plain metallic sheets or plates upon said straps to form the bin-body A is in itself the broader application of my invention as I intend to claim the same, perhaps its greater utility in practice is in connection with corrugated sheet material of all kinds and particularly that kind of such material known as ferro-inclave, which is the subject of and is fully illustrated and described in United States Letters Patent granted to me under date of December 17, 1901, and numbered 689,281, wherein the sheet is accurately crimped by special machinery into dovetailed sections with the openings of each alternate section of the sheet at one end slightly wider than the same openings at the other end, thereby allowing the ends of two sheets to slide into one another and fit securely.

As will be understood the feature of suspending a bin-body from its frame indirectly, as explained, instead of directly, as in prevailing methods, permits a lighter gage of sheet material to be employed, and therefore a gage which can be corrugated, and thereby adapted to receive and maintain an interior coating of cement or other plastic medium that will effectually withstand any reagents which the bin will encounter in its use. The fact that ferro-inclave plates, as said above, can be directly fitted into each other at their ends has the further advantage in the connection of enabling a form of seam to be made use of to unite the several plates that has all the merits of a lap-joint and the sutficiency of the butt form, and yet which dispenses with the special covers or \velts that the one form requires or the double row of rivets that characterizes the other. Furthermore, when a series of ferro inclave plates are wedged tightly together end to end and fastened longitudinally to said straps and are then reinforced by a given thickness of cement upon their upper face, the whole course will constitute a continuous beam or sheet girder of exceeding strength in proportion to the material, the compression member of the same being the cement and the tension member the ferro-inclave, a form of disposing metal for the purpose that in the nature of things must obtain the advantage of the entire weight involved to the fullest degree.

Throughout the drawings the bin is represented and assumed to be one where ferroinclave (represented by F)is used and is fortified and insulated within and without by cement or like substance, the cement on the interior of the bin being represented by G and that on the exterior by Gr. Preferably the coatingGrshould be made thickest in. the bottom of the bin and graduated each side upward to a minimum depth at the top, as is indicated in Fig. 3. The bottom and sides of the bin-body A, having been made up as above described, the same material may enter into the end formations. Here, however, the same structural principle is of course not involved, and such material may be applied in any suitable manner. Fig. 3 indicates ferro-inclave, duly coated and fastened to the inner faces of cross-struts E to constitute a vertical wall or end partition.

H H are the usual relief-chutes, disposed throughout the structure as is deemed best.

The frame-supporting columns or posts B B are located in pairs at such points beneath the girders G and C as the bending strength of the latter demands. Their angle of convergence or obliquity inward to the base-plates p p is arrived at as the resultant of the horizontal and vertical strains of the bin-body A and, as is evident, they sustain a tangential relation to the same at the girder portion thereof, C and C. It is further evident that by arranging the supporting-columns B B in the manner just described any tendency of said girders to be forced together by the weight of the load is taken up and provided for and that consequently the cross-bracing of the bin to prevent its collapse that is essential when the same is vertically supported may be entirely dispensed with. To steady the structure against windage or other vibratory shocks, 1 provide tie-rods T T at suitable distances along and fastened to the sides of the bin and duly anchored below.

Although I have described and shown what is substantially a parabolic curve as the section of the storage-bin to which my invention applies, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit the same to that or any other particular line of curvature, but have chosen a parabola as representing the theoretical standard for the purpose, at the same time realizing that such standard may be departed from i and my invention still be recognizechalthough,

ICC

as must always be the fact, the curve of the ribs or straps S S, and consequently of the bin A, be different, provided only such clifferent curve is one that the material referred to as composing the bin proper will tend to assume when suspended as described and subjected to the strain of the load it is to contain. So although as an advantageous form of the structure I introduce the feature of the oblique columnar supports my invention is nevertheless complete and useful to an extent if the suspended bin made up as described depends from a framework having vertical columns, for instance, instead of as shown, and while I have also specifically described various structural details for a bin embodying my inventionsuch, for instance, as the manner of making up the girders G G, the dovetail section in the corrugated plates, &c.l do not wish the invention in the broadest sense to be restricted to such details of structure, but to be interpreted more comprehensively.

What I claim, and wish to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a storage-bin, or like receptacle, the combination, with a suitable base or framework, of a series of a substantially parabolicshaped ribs or straps sustained thereby, and, a bin-bod y, having its bottom and sides formed by a series of continuous sheet-girders or beams attached to, and supported by said ribs or straps, each member of which last-named series conforms in contour to the ribs or straps that immediately support the same at the points of its support, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a storage-bin, or like receptacle, the combination, with a suitable base or frame, of a series of a substantially parabolic-shaped ribs or straps sustained thereby, and. a binbody, having its bottom and sides formed by successive courses of sheet-plates attached to and supported by said ribs or straps, each member of said courses conforming in contour to the ribs or straps that immediately support the same at the points of its support, substantially as shown and described.

3. In a storage-bin or like receptacle, the combination, with a suitable base, or frame, of a series of a substantially parabolic-shaped ribs or straps, sustained thereby, and a bin-body having its bottom and sides formed, by successive courses of corrugated sheet-plates attached to and supported by said ribs or straps, each member of said course conforming in contour to the ribs or straps that imn'iediately support the same at the points of its support, substantially as shown and described.

4:. In a storage-bin, or like receptacle, the

combination, with a suitable base or frame, of

aseries of a substantially parabolic-shaped ribs, or straps sustained thereby, and a binbody having its bottom and sides formed by successive courses of ferro-inclave sheets or plates attached to and supported by said ribs or straps, each member of said course conforming in contour to the ribs or straps that immediately support the same at the points of its support, substantially as shown and described.

5. In a storage-bin or like receptacle, the combination, with a base or framework containing a series of oppositely-arranged supporting columns or posts that converge inwardly to their points of support, at the angle of the resultant of the horizontal and ver tical strains to be sustained, a series of a substantially parabolic-shaped ribs or straps connected with and supported by said columns or posts, and a bin-body having its bottom and sides formed by successive courses of sheet plates or similar material, attached to and supported by said ribs or straps each member of said courses conforming in contour to the ribs or straps that immediately support the same at the points of its saidsupport, substantially as shown and described.

6. In a storage-bin, or like receptacle, the combination, with a base or framework containing a series of oppositely-arranged supporting columns or posts that converge inwardly to their points of support at the angle of the resultant of the horizontal and vertical strains to be sustained, a series of asubstantially parabolic-shaped ribs or straps, connected with and supported by said columns or posts and a bin-body made up of successive courses of sheetplates, or like material, attached to and supported by said ribs or straps and coated with cement, or other non-reactive substance, the said sheet-plates, that constitute said courses, severally conforming, in contour, to the ribs or straps, that immedi' ately support the same, at their respective points of support, substantially as shown and described.

ALEXANDER E. BROWN In presence of------ R. G. CARR, RICHARD DnvnNs. 

